forest foundation

It's Tuesday and it's Raining

It's Tuesday, foundation meeting day! Like last week, it looks like tonight will be cold and wet, which got me thinking: Isla Vista might be one of the most miserable places to be when it rains. I mean, it's not exactly as if Isla Vista is Club Med on a regular day (maybe Hedonism II, though), but when it rains, the town becomes downright ugly. Where else will you see people who have to ride their bikes while being blinded by sheets of rain, getting soaked to the bone and mud splattering all over their backs, for the sole purpose of attending some winding, long-winded lecture where the professor will spend half the time complaining how he can't believe the poor attendence in class today, how apathetic the students are, how he ought to etc. But you can always drive your car, right? Right, you can pay eight dollars you managed to piece together from under your couch, behind the toilet, and in your roommates pockets (our little secret) for a parking pass that will allow you to circle hopelessly around a parking lot with about one thousand too few spots, only to find a spot after about half-an-hour of circling and with ten minutes left of your class. Not to mention that driving around Isla Vista on a regular night is already like navigating through the batcave with blinders on, it gets even worse with the rain. You might think that walking would do the trick, but after you see about a dozen poor souls with their compact Linens-N-Things umbrellas flipped inside out trudging through the "shallow" points of the innumerable lagoons that have formed in the streets, you think twice. So why do people even bother to leave home on days like this in I.V.? Because staying at home can be even worse. The paper thin walls of the homes don't do much for insulation, and you have to be constantly aware that the roof of your abode can open up at any moment. When I was a sophomore living in I.V., we had a house that got so cold (and of course the heater never worked, although we asked to have it fixed about 75 different times) we had to leave the oven open and stove on for hours just to stave off frostbite. What's more, the back room of the house was actually set lower than the outside porch, meaning that every time the rain came the back room would flood. If it sounds like I've exaggerated at all, it's probably because I have, but take it from me - Isla Vista is not a pleasent experience during the rainy season. Anyway, see you at meeting!

posted by forest foundation @ 10:42 AM